


The Feline Fighter and his Drooling Compatriot

by Tsuki_Amano



Series: 365 Stucky Shots [17]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Captain America - All Media Types, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Canon-Compliant, Fluff, M/M, Pets, Tony Is a Good Bro, domestic stucky
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-02
Updated: 2015-09-02
Packaged: 2018-04-18 17:03:58
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,372
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4713701
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tsuki_Amano/pseuds/Tsuki_Amano
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Steve's gone three weeks and Bucky adopts a pair of pets, a cat with claws of justice and a dog that's not the brightest bone in the bundle. </p><p>Or a domestic pile of fluff featuring pets and a few terrible puns.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Feline Fighter and his Drooling Compatriot

There’s something different about their living room, although Steve can’t quite put his finger on what it is. He can sense that something isn’t quite the same as when he’d left three weeks ago.

Rubbing a towel through his hair, he flops down gracelessly on the dark brown sofa in the living room. Bucky’s not in their apartment, much to his dissatisfaction. He’d been hoping to come to the man after his mission, after being separated for seventy years, even three weeks apart seemed like a life time.

He picks up the cordless phone on the coffee table and dials Bucky’s number.

He picks up on the second ring.

“You’re back early.”

Steve isn’t smiling like a total sap at the sound of Bucky’s voice. Oh, who’s he kidding, of course he is. And he knows that Bucky can hear it in his voice, not that he minds in the slightest.

“There weren’t as many insurgents as we thought, and Fury agreed to keep the meeting tomorrow, so I’m home early.”

Bucky hums on the other end of the phone and Steve wonders where he is. It sounds like he’s in a shop of some kind, but he doesn’t really want to ask too many questions. It had taken months for Bucky to even consider leaving their rooms in the Tower and that was only if Steve came with him.

Now he was slowly venturing outside without Steve, making progress in leaps and bounds. Steve didn’t want to do anything that would ruin it.

“I’ll be back in a bit,” Bucky says, “Thought I’d buy some food before you came back, stock up on the groceries you know?”

Biting back a joke about the perfect house-husband, Steve leans back letting his head rest on the top of the sofa. On the other end, Bucky is still walking around in the store. They don’t say anything, but that’s not uncommon, sometimes they just need the comfort of being able to know the other is there, especially when Steve has been away on missions.

Steve starts when he hears an angry squawking from the phone. It sounded like a…

“Bucky is that a parrot?”

“I think it’s a cockatoo. Man Stevie these things look fierce, like this bird looks like it will peck your eyes out if you look at it funny. D’ya think I can get one of these for Stark for Christmas this year? Hey doll,” he adds as an afterthought, “I’m going to need to hang up now alright? Need to pay at the counter. I’ll be home soon.”

Blowing out a soft puff of air, Steve replies, “See you soon then jerk. Love you.”

“Love you too punk.”

Steve hangs up, closing his eyes tiredly, but he knows he’ll feel terrible if he remains in this ergonomic position for too long, so he drags his eyelids open.

They jerk wide open when he sees the short white strands all over the cushions.

True to his word, Bucky’s home less than twenty minutes later, with three huge bags of miscellaneous items. Although Steve’s got an idea what they might be, judging by the new occupant of his lap.

“I see you met Nefertiti”, Bucky says sheepishly, referring to the sleek white cat that’s curled up on Steve’s lap, purring like a truck as he rubs her ears.

“ _Nefertiti_?” he asks incredulously.

Shrugging, he starts taking out cans of what Steve can only assume can be cat food from the bags.

“Well, I was watching a documentary on Egyptian mythology when I found her. She was all alone and it was cold and rainy, I couldn’t just leave her out there.”

Steve’s fine with the idea, he doesn’t think anyone else in the Tower will mind too much either, because Bucky looks so genuinely happy with this and if Bucky’s happy, Steve’s happy.

Then he notices the picture on the bag Bucky’s pulling out now.

Bucky notices his incredulous look and says, “Oh these are for Raphael. He’s having a play date with Barton’s dog.”

“We have a dog too?”

“That you do. Adopting kids so fast, I’m so proud of you two, all grown up. You’ll love the dog Cap, he’s like you, loyal to a fault, boundless energy and no self-preservation. Ran into the sliding glass doors while trying to _‘save’_ his feline friend from Bruce.”

Tony strolls in with what appears to be two collars in his hand.

“These collars are embedded with state of the art tracking technology and monitoring software. If they so much as get fleas, you’ll know. No need to thank me, just please keep your canine away from my lab.”

Tony sniffs distastefully at the store bought food and Steve makes a mental note to make sure he doesn’t go out of his way to come up with something extravagant. There are somethings that it’s better to let Bucky have control over.

“Thanks Tony,” he says, “The collars are a big help.”

Bucky is turning the items around in his hand, seemingly satisfied with the design and the size. Tony nods at him and moves toward the sofa, probably to catch up with him after his mission.

He’s about five feet away when Nefertiti lifts her head and hisses at him.

Tony stops dead in his tracks.

“Right I forgot, the Egyptian queen is territorial.”

“ _Territorial of what_?” Steve asks flabbergasted.

“Apparently anything Barnes finds important to him. She nearly clawed out Barton’s eyes when he tried to borrow your sweatshirt.”

Steve shoots Bucky a look, but he crosses his arms and doesn’t say anything.

“Well, I happen to like not being decorated with claw marks, so I’ll make myself scarce. Movie night tonight, you two better show up.”

He smiles weakly at the man and thanks him again, waiting till he’s left before giving Bucky a pointed look.

“Hey, I didn’t teach her to be like that or anything. I may have been mildly disapproving when Barton tried to tamper with your sweatshirt.”

“Mildly disapproving? Wait what do you mean tamper with? Did he try to put itching powder in it again?”

When he gets an affirmative, Steve grins, “It’s like I’ve got my own personal attack cat. **_The Feline Fighter._** _”_

Bucky scowls at him, “Don’t you dare.”

His grin widens, “ ** _Private Purr_** ”

“Steve no.”

“Steve yes, **_The Whirring Warrior_** ”

“I will end you.”

“You love me too much to do that.”

Bucky leans over and kisses him, “For some reason, I do.”

He sits next to him and curls up next to Steve, reminding him of the cat in his lap with his feline grace.

Bucky puts his head on Steve’s shoulder and says, “You don’t mind right? About the pets?”

“Nah, you know I always wanted them when we were kids. Could never afford them though, Ma would have thrown me out. Plus my allergies never let me keep pets around.”

“I remember, you used to feel sorry for them and feed them in the winter. We barely had enough ourselves and you’d keep some scraps from your plate. Damn near killed yourself too, giving yourself an asthma attack.”

“I couldn’t let them die.” Steve says petulantly.

“Damn selfless fool. At least that hasn’t changed since we were kids.”

“Well, I’m your selfless fool.”

Bucky smiles fondly, “I guess you are.”

***Bonus Scene***

Bruce winces at the crash. He doesn’t bother going to check what it is, he knows exactly what happened.

Turning back to his experiment, he fiddles with some calculations, idly listening to the yelling outside.

“Raphael, _for the last time_ , if there’s a door in front of you, you stop! Don’t run full speed into it!”

“Barnes, he’s a dog. I don’t think he understands you.” Natasha says, smirking. They both know fully well Raphael understands every word they’re saying. He casts them the most pitiful look he can muster and Bucky’s heart melts.

“Alright you giant ham, lay off. Just what I need, two pair of puppy dog eyes. Geez, Tony’s just checking Nef’ out, regular vet visit.”

Next to him Natasha laughs, “You know, I think for Halloween, we should buy him his own little shield. He really does remind me of a certain American patriot.”

**Author's Note:**

> I know normally people make Bucky the prankster that bonds with Clint, but I think Steve would be equally as bad so I played with that element.  
> Also personally, I feel animals are therapeutic for people, and I can totally see Bucky adopting them.


End file.
